332 



F A Ji M i: R S * R E GIST E II 



[No. 6 



fariiiep, in the cprinc:, sprinkle, clovor-seed on 

 whent, tor pafjiiiras^e, hut il is rare thouirh every 

 body approves: it. Apples: pear.«, qmncef;, the 

 niorrello and common clierries, are in hitrh perlec- 

 tion, and with lillie trouble. Pearlies, apricots, 

 nectarines, and clierries; of the more delicious 

 kmds, do not thrive so well here as near lo the hay ; 

 yet these and plums, in all situations sonieiimes, 

 and in some situations, almost every year, are ve- 

 ry good. We have loo, the black mulberry in 

 plenty: exotic urapes thrive very well, and the 

 native irrape, of which there is irreal variety, have, 

 in some instances, been much improved by culture. 



The price ol" bar-iron is Ironi 2S/. to 30/. a ton, 

 coarse iron-work from the smith double the price 

 of" the bar. Laborers, by the year about 20/. ; by 

 the month, 40s: and found every thin<r but clothes. 

 Reapers and mowers, by the day, 3s. to 3s. 9d. 

 and found : about a pint of whiskey, or common 

 mm, is indispensable ; a good reaper cuts, binds, 

 and slacks, about tfiree-quarters ot" an acre of 

 wheat, of 20 bushels to the acre, a day ; a mower 

 mows about his acre. 



Washinjzton county, JVIaryland, may also be di- 

 vided in the same manner as Frederic. — Conno- 

 gochege Valley is about 20 miles in lengih and 

 breadth, and has Connogochege and Antitem 

 creeks runnincr throuirhout it, and emptyinur in the 

 Potomac. This valley has more limestone than 

 Monocosy, is rather stronger, and, its inhabitants 

 say, exceeds if in produce; I believe it does. The 

 prices of land, labor, hire, cattle of all kinds, as 

 well as the kinds of produce, and manner of culti- 

 vation, is so much alike, that a particular enumer- 

 ation woidu be but a repetition. Il lies 30 or 40 

 miles farther ti'om the ports, and the grain is <jener- 

 ally Gd. or St/, lower. They too have a plenty of 

 very fine mills, and their wheat is chifflv carried 

 to market in flour. The other parls of Washing- 

 ton are much the same as the inferior p;irts of 

 Frederic. The improvement of the inland navi- 

 gation on Potomac, is likeiy to lessen greatly the 

 expence of the carriage of the produce of these 

 counties, and of course render the lands much 

 more valuable. 



It may be remarked, and seem strange, that I 

 have esiimated the produce of the richc-r and poor- 

 er fresh lands in their first crops not very difi'erent. 

 I believe the fiict will justily me, for land of mid- 

 dling and inferior quality, for the first two years, 

 makes a very vifrorous exertion. 



I have confined myself chiefly to what I believe 

 is the present actual general state of things ; and 

 when the price of land and of labor is considered, 

 il will not seem wonderful that men will generally, 

 as they are able, go into new purchases, rather 

 than highly improve their own lands ; but general 

 as the practice is, it is not universal. There are 

 instances among us. of 30 bushels of wheat, on 

 an average of years, beinij raised to the acre, on 

 particular, manured, and highly cultivated spots ; 

 and, from essays, it is a common opinion, that 

 good land, highly culiivafed, and manured, will 

 produce fi-om 40 to 50 bushels of Indian corn to the 

 acre, and even more. 



Mr. Eward Tiighman. now dead, had three 

 f!quaresof20 acres each; he tilled one in tobacco — 

 tobacco was not the first object with him, it gave 

 place to his wheat ; on a particular day in Septem- 

 ber he cleared his nround of the tobacco, whether 

 ■o ripe ac he wished or not ; he seeded it in wheat ; 



he let nothing in till the May after the harvest, 

 unless his calves in the liill, and before hard frosi. 

 He, the next year, pastured 20 cows on the same 

 field ; they weretiarned in with discretion, twice or 

 thrice a day for an hour or two at a time ; he sta- 

 bled his cows, and manured for tobacco — he thus 

 went round many years. I was at his house up- 

 wards of thirty years ago, and saw those fields; 

 it was about the 5ih of May — one was then in 

 very strong whea' — in the second, the while clo- 

 ver was considerably more than ancle high, with 

 20 cows, one or two more or less, feeding on it ;and 

 the third was ploughed up lor tobacco, fron) which, 

 he then told me, he had the preceding year made 

 1400lbs. of butter. He has told me, that his to- 

 bacco has generally turned out lOOOIbs, to the 

 acre ; and his nephew told me, some years, about 

 twelve 3'ears after, that his wheat, for 15 years, 

 had averaged 32 bushels and a fraction to the acre. 

 We have land in ibis neighborhood, fiill as good, 

 naturally, as Mr. Tilghman's, which is in Queen 

 Anne's county; and the cro|)s are rather more cer- 

 tain in this than in that part of the country. In- 

 deed we are very seldom injured by mildews, scab, 

 or blight; the last we scarcely know. Mr Tiigh- 

 man also has told me, that he had upwards of 500 

 bushels of head turnips to the acre. 



As soon as the wood is taken ofT our strong 

 land, it is covered wilh white clover, which seems 

 as natural to the soil as wood ; if the land is not so 

 light as to push the wheat into straw too much, 

 20 bushels an acre may be expected the first crop. 

 Tho.se who are acquainted with cultivation, know 

 that manured land will produce more grain, or seed, 

 I ban the richest fiesh land, and may calculate for 

 themselves what may be expected from fresh land, 

 under good management. 



The truth warrants it, and if may not be amiss 

 to remark, that the territory of Columbia* is the 

 point where the general productions meet in great- 

 er perlection than any other, and that fi-om thence 

 some improve or decline towards the east, and 

 others tovyards the west, in at least as small dis- 

 tances as towards the north and soulh. Grass, 

 grain, and fruits of all kinds are very good. To 

 the southward and eastward, grass, wheal, rye, 

 oats, and apples, are less perlect, or produced, in 

 less quantities. Cherries, of the more delicious 

 kinds, peaches, apricots, nectarines, figs, and mel- 

 ons, improve. To the northward and westward, 

 the latter are not so perfect — the former inqjrove, 

 till the neighborhood of this, and especially in the 

 mountains. Apples are equal to those of the Jer- 

 sies. 



Our wheat is commonly 601b. — this year63, and 

 some of it 67. Our grass, rye, and oats, better. 

 Pursuing the west to the Allegany, you come into 

 a country equal, perhaps, to any in the world, for 

 grass, rye, oats, potatoes, and flax, as well as ex- 

 cellent for wheat — it is ceuerally said, that the 

 oats weigh 46 ; wheat fi-om 6 I to 67. That the 

 potatoes are abundant, of uncommon size, and ex- 

 cellent in quality — and that the hackled flax is 

 generally a yard long — some of" it is certainly so. 



Note. — To convert currency into sterling, take 

 ofT two fifths. 



* Columbia is the name of a district 10 miles square 

 (in which is the new, or Federal City) over wnicfi the 

 general government, by constitution, has exclusive 

 jurisdiction. 



